As bicycles become more technologically advanced, and cities have increasingly provided better infrastructure for cyclists, bicycling as a means for daily transportation has grown significantly in recent years. Bike sharing programs in particular have grown in popularity because they offer a convenient way for people to access a bike without the expense or maintenance required of ownership. Additionally, bike shares alleviate a major problem of owning a bike, which is finding a place to secure or store it while it is not being used. In a bike share, the bike is returned to a designated place, normally a docking station or locker provided by the system, and typically in a public space.
There are numerous problems with the existing docking stations and bicycle lockers currently available. For docking stations, they tend to take up a lot of space in an urban landscape. This makes it difficult for the bike share operator to find enough locations in heavily populated areas of the city in order for the system to be successful. Additionally, docking stations don't offer any enclosure of the bikes, which leaves the bikes vulnerable to damage, theft, and deterioration from the elements. To mitigate these issues, the standard bike used in bike shares is typically very rugged and heavy, which makes them expensive to produce. Furthermore, while they are made to be very durable, the added weight becomes a burden on the riders, especially in riding a bike up a hill.
Because bicycles have many protruding and detachable parts that can make them susceptible to damage, theft, and weather, it is believed the best way to store bikes is in a protected, enclosed structure. There are existing bicycle storage lockers that achieve some level of protection, but improvements are needed. For example, more compact storage structures are desirable because they can reduce the amount of space the lockers take up per bicycle.